catching up - the strike

now that i finally have some downtime (and a working internet connection), i can catch up on recent events, beginning with the strike. i was actually looking forward to it, just to experience the first mass transit strike in nyc in nearly 25 years. fortunately, my law firm was very understanding and we were told just to come in whenever we could make it.

spanning three mornings, the strike was everything i imagined it would be. my commute began a few blocks away at the christopher st. path station, where i took the train uptown to 33rd st. from there i walked up fifth avenue to 53rd, and then cut across to my job at 3rd ave. it was really neat to see all the people on the streets, and luckily the weather was nice all week (quick note - the snow is finally coming down today!). Here are some pictures from my commute - my favorite was walking by the library each morning.


greeley park, the path station exit


walking past the library


one of those famous lions

at work, my schedule was crazy busy due to coworkers on vacation. with my heavy workload i took a company car home each night, so i never got to see how the commute worked going home.

looking back, the three day strike was memorable and exciting, but i can't imagine if it ran for two weeks like the last time in 1980.

anyways, off to go shopping now!

shake a fist! - internet

going forward, my "shake a fist!" postings will cover anything i find frustrating (taken from my friend ajuah - joshua w/out the "j"). she really does the physical "shake a fist" the best.

anyways, my internet connection at home is spotty again! i was hoping to catch up with some posts from the holidays but it looks like it will have to wait. damn whoever our internet provider is <>!

food i miss - la version

so many good memories... although san francisco is considered a much better food haven than los angeles, nothing beats comfort food from the old days. I'm sure I'm forgetting some great eats, but here is my list:

- ribs usa. mentioned in my earlier post, this is the place for ribs, hot wings and bbq.
- topps. the best chili cheese fries, chili dog, and zucchini sticks all come with the biggest heartburn.
- the boat (aka clearman's galley). they may have replaced the snow ice, but their cheese bread, chili burgers and famous salads can't be beat. i recently discovered that this spot is a favorite of my grandmother's!
- outback. just had a jacket potato right now for dinner. not as great as the one free potato i got every night i worked as a busboy (probably because i didn't personally put double butter and extra bacon on it), but still tasty.
- del taco. possibly one of the best 99 cent menus ever: works burrito, spicy chicken burrito, other stuff that i can't remember because i rarely order them. and the best chicken soft tacos. please, i hope i never learn what the secret sauce is. some things are not meant to be known.
- numero uno pizza. one of my all time favorite pizzas. a nice greasy deep dish, with fresh tomatoes and a slightly sweet dough.
- in-n-out. my dad's office was next to fifth in-n-out ever opened. it's still the size of my nyc apt, with only a few patio tables for eat-in and old school horns for drive-thru.

i'm sure there are more (zankou chicken, shao mei, school cafeteria, etc.) but i've gotta get back to work now!

what i miss - la version

i thought that since i have been gone from southern california for nearly ten years my list would be much longer. although short, i believe this contains everything i truly miss after leaving in 1996.

people:
- family. although my sisters moved to san francisco, most of my family remains in southern california, including my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many cousins. i can't wait to see everyone when i go home in january!
- the dena ballers / l-clubbers. too numerous to name, but i miss all of the good times we've had and look forward to the even better times we have coming. mark your calendars, i'll be home from 1/24 - 1/30. (btw, i'm up for a '96/'97 rematch if we can make it happen while i'm home)

activities/places:
- hanging out at home. home truly is where the heart is, even after our big tree got cut down and my parents have rearranged all the furniture.
- eating home cooking. it still surprises me that in senior year of high school i ate dinner at home less than once a month. it also still surprises me that i used to be able to easily polish off cheese fries and a 16 oz. prime rib at outback, with room for dessert!
- balling at hamilton park. the old school fridays were still some of the best basketball memories i have.
- the card trader. i think only matt understands my true love of the place during the summer of '97. magic and nba jam baby!
- the pacific hastings theater. before there was stadium seating, i remember watching all the big summer blockbusters here. unfortunately, all my recent memories are of poor sound quality and aching backs.
- tuesday wings. $3 for all-you-can-eat wings and all-you-can-drink soda (personal record - 40 wings)! we would starve ourselves all day before driving out to burback to catch the 4pm special at ribs usa. even at $5 it was still a bargain, but i guess all good things must end.

coming soon - the christmas update and "food i miss - la version"!

happy holidays!

to my family and friends, merry christmas and happy new year! i've been away for a while, but i look forward to seeing everyone again soon! may you and yours all have a wonderful holday season!

warmly,
mike

busy busy

sorry for the lack o recent posts. i've actually got a couple of posts in the piepline, but just not ready to publish them. things at work have been pretty crazy, and coupled with my extended commute (due to the strike, which just ended today), i just have not had time to post here.

things have been good though. working at a law firm is a big change from working at build, largely because everyone is constantly trying to find billable work. there are times where it's really slow and everyone is asking around looking for work (like all of last week), and then there are time when there are tons of projects flying around, many which are rush, and all which need to be completed (like this week so far).

anyways, gotta get back to work...

intelligent ruling

kudos to the honorable judge jones for barring intellligent design from public classrooms (even as a one-minute statement). i won't go into detail about it here, but there's a terrific piece on this trial in a recent new yorker (sorry, it's not on the web, but i have it at my place). basically, all of these scientists testified in court about the nature of "true" sciences, the definition of a scientific theory (as opposed to it just being an idea used to account for something), and all of this other interesting stuff aboubt evolution.

anyways, long story short - intelligent design was just a "scientific sounding" way of saying creationism, which i think we don't need in our public schools.

long long day

contrary to what many people thought would happen, the mta walked out and went on strike. luckily, i live fairly close to a path train stop, and only needed to walk from 30th st and 6th ave to my work at 55th and 3rd (about 1.5 miles). many of my co-workers faced much longer commutes, coming into the city from queens, brooklyn and even long island, so i really can't complain.

what really made my day feel long was a long time spent working at the computer. everyone wasn't kidding when they said the work piles on once your training is complete. at least this allows me to get some extra hours in, as i'll only be working four day weeks for the next two weeks due to x-mas and new year's.

let's see how long this strike will last...

dear mr. wu,

today i sent an email to my future self courtesy of futureme.org. my letter is not to be sent untit 12/2009, and it really makes me wonder what type of person i will be in four years? i don't think i've changed much since high school, so i'm crossing my fingers that nothing will change after i finish law school. other than my earning potential.

garciaparra to the dodgers!

wow. a big risk, but i'm glad the dodgers are willing to make some moves. i'm hoping for a big year, with a new gm, manager, and key players.

gotta say that no matter how much i love playing and watching basketball, baseball is hands-down my favorite sport to follow. best drama, player movement, stories, etc.

new weekend schedule

friday and saturday do go by quickly when they are your only days off during the week, but considering how slow it is today at work, i still prefer it over working mon-fri. here's a brief recap of my weekend.

started friday off with an intense workout. mainly abs and legs, both of which i do not work out enough as evidenced by my current soreness. after discussing cheese with chih, he recommended that i check out murray's, right down the street on bleeker. it was a great shop, and i picked up some prima donna gouda (my current favorite) as well as a st. martin cheddar. this, along with half a baguette and leftover pasta, provided me with a very filling lunch.

the rest of the day was rounded out by dropping some pics to be developed at hong color, more kati rolls with devy, a cannoli (and other pastries) from cafe ferrera, and a late night shwarma from mahmoun's. yes, lots of eating and walking.

saturday was more of the same. for devy's farewell, suzanne and gerald treated us to a hearty british fusion brunch at the spotted pig, as well as some tasty homemade peppermint bark. after burnch, devy and i took the tour at the new york public library, walked around bryant park, and got pizza from bravo pizza. after taking a short nap at home, devy and i decided to catch the chronicles of narnia, which i really liked. finally we closed out the weekend with a doner kebab and grilled chicken sandwich from the other falalel place on macdougal (for some reason mahmoun's looked closed), whoch was pretty good, possibly even better than mahmoun's.

all in all, a great weekend. i recommend narnia to those looking for a light fantasy film, and i am looking forward to watching brokeback mountain next, as it got great reviews from friends.

coming soon: things i miss - la version!

k-town with j-tourists

tonight after work i met up with julia, one of my old co-workers at build. she was in town from philadelphia for the evening visiting a friend who was also visiting, but from japan. unfortunately, this friend had somehow lost both of her credit cards and i felt really bad as it wasn't easy to cancel her cards since they were all issued in japan. she was sad that she wouldn't be able to shop, but i told her not to worry since her boyfriend was on route to nyc as well (they all go flights for around $400 rt from japan).

the whole thing reminded me of when jack and i were in europe, and both of his credit cards got cancelled and i was his suger daddy for our final week in paris. luckily we were able to stay at my friend andrea's apartment, or else we would've really been screwed.

anyways, after the credit card situation was figured out we headed out to k-town. julia (who is korean) worked her magic and we enjoyed an excellent dinner at kum gang san on 32nd st. immediately after dinner, we all went together to penn station as julia had to catch the last train back to philly, and that's where i catch the 1 train home. it was really nice meeting her japanese friends, and it really made me want to go back. i originally went in 2001 with gerald, and we had an amazing time backpacking through the kansai region for about two weeks.

food i miss - sf version

it's only taken me one month in new york city to develop major cravings for my bay area favorites:

mid-scale restaraunts:
- osha. i may not crave this place like back in the days (jack and i went straight from the airport after six weeks in europe), but it takes effort for me not to overhype the crab fried rice
- blue jay cafe. budget gourmet soul food, just be ready to search for parking
- emmy's spaghetti shack. five dollar 40s and meatballs the size of my fist
- cha cha cha. one of my favorites, great place to go with friends and get more drunk then you think you are. mission location preferred
- delfina. i usually don't like italian restaraunts, but i make the exception here
- zachary's. so far haven't had pizza here that can compare
- little star pizza. its deep dish pizza also doesn't compare, but it's close and offers $1 pabst blue ribbons

fast food:
- three brothers. i can't remember what i did before they opened in east palo alto. actually i do, and i try to forget those days
- pizza: arinell's & cheeseboard. pizza to go (or to stay, as they say here) in nyc is not as good as in sf
- in-and-out. i try not to think about their burgers, although gerald says he's found a close alternative (blue9)
- top dog. there's truth to their name
- cafe intermezzo. still my all-time favorite salad place
- crepes-a-go-go. i'm sure i can find agood crepes place here, but i just haven't looked

snacks / desserts:
- tartine bakery. this place i miss alot. best bread pudding ever!
- see's candy. those new peanut brittle crunch bars are worth the candy you get stuck between your teeth
- recchiuti confections. their s'mores truly make me wish for s'more
- miette. good cakes. fantastic parisian macaroons.

misc:
- safeway. i hate shoipping in the tiny, over-priced markets we have here
- cheese: 24 st. cheese company & cowgirl creamery. prima donna gouda and dry jack have converted me into a bona-fide cheese lover
- johnson’s drakes bay oysters. 100 oysters for $30. just don't get lost on the way like i always did

two places that probably would have been favorites had i only visited earlier (instead of the week before i left):
- a16 - another fancy pizza place, but with fair prices for food and wine
- minako - affordable, organic japanese in a nice, private setting

comment: it's surprising in this day and age how many of these great places don't have their own website. is it really that difficult?

T.G.I.T.!

No work tomorrow! My Sun-Thurs work schedule begins this week, with a late start time of 10:30 AM on Sunday (and casual dress)! Woo-hoo!

what i miss - sf version

slow day at work, but perfect for me to list everything i miss (so far) about northern california. first and foremost - my family. i'm glad i had a few months with both emily and jennifer in san francisco, but i really wish i could be with them during the holidays. also, my cousins jeanne, angela, ajay and joanie, plus maya and madeleine, the new addition i haven't even met yet :(

people i miss:
- my old old roomies ejen and etam (and everyone else, you know who you are)
- my old roomie thien
- killa bees and sunnyvale friends (although it looks like now everyone moved to snta clara)
- and last but not least, my BUILD family - staff, students and volunteers (if you're in the bay area, support our young entrepreneurs and learn about build at our annual holiday sales bazaar)

activities/stuff i miss:
- the bay area scenic beauty
- thursday basketball
- saturday running
- sunday yoga
- snowboarding in tahoe
- hitting the driving range
- npr on my commute
- karaoke revolution!

places i miss:
- our parks: dolores park and golden gate park
- sf public libraries: main and the sally brunn branch (noe valley)
- ferry plaza farmer's market
- berkeley
- the fillmore / warfield
- musee mecanique (but its old location was better)

coming soon: "the food i miss" (my list looked way too long to fit in this post)

those selfish bastards

looks like telecom companies want to institute their own higher speed "toll internet". quite a change to see google, yahoo, and all the other big internet companies banding together to fight this. with those dot.com super powers fighting on the same side, i can't expect the telecoms to win. or can they? ultimately i'm not sure how this will affect the end user.

btw, sat in a long meeting today at work and wrote out everything for my next long blog posting. coming soon - everything i miss about sf!

colder than a witch's teat

or i think that's what my boy matty-a used to always say. here's a screen cap from my dashboard this morning (fahrenheit on the left, celsius on the right):

thumbs up, thumbs down

my mom left a message for me last night with first word from the law schools - rejected at george washington university, accepted at st. john's. two down, nineteen to go... not sure how this bodes for the rest of my applications if i couldn't get into gw, but i guess i'll have to wait and see. wish me luck!

quick sports update

the lakers beat the mavs last night, and have won 5 of their last six games to crawl out of the cellar in the pacific division (above sacramento!). i only wish i could watch their games, but i don't have cable and the games start too late out here. my buddy calvin did offer me a ticket to the knicks game last night, but i couldn't get off work early enough. a good thing too as starbury, my hopeful keeper in two fantasy leagues, played horribly.

on the other hand, the clippers lead the pacific divison! how long will this last?

cal football will be playing byu at the las vegas bowl on december 22. who will start at quarterback? levy again? longshore? please not ayoob.

cal basketball is off to a 6-2 start, although i hope their conference play is not as disappointing as the start of cal football conference play.

the dodgers hired grady little, paid the big bucks to rafael furcal, and have offered jeff weaver arbitration. will this turn things around? hopefully. when tommy was in town he said he saw tommy lasorda at del frisco's, so maybe that's some sort of sign (his back was turned when i passed by, so i couldn't confirm lasorda as my first celebrity sighting).

no big moves so far for the angels, although they did pick up j.c. romero, who was a monster set-up guy a few years ago.

internet book database?

thining about my last post on books, it made me wonder why there isn't an internet book database ala imdb.com. anyone know why?

lion, the witch and the super long wait

today i read two pieces in the times about two different books/series i've read recently, a feast for crows and the chronicles of narnia.

the first article covers the song of fire and ice, my favorite series for the past few years. it definitely paints a much grimmer picture than the lord of the rings, but at the same time it is more captivating because of its realistic depictions. i may have mentioned it earlier, but i did wait three hours to get my copy signed by the author, described by the articles author as "about 100 pounds overweight, ... like a rotund elf or Santa Claus." i highly recommend this series for any fan of the fantasy genre. the only negative about it is the two year wait between books in the series...

narnia is the subject of the second article, an op/ed piece. like the author, i also didn't realize that the stories were of a christian nature. however, after picking up mere christianity (but not getting a chance to read it), and after i saw a preview for the movie series, i became intrigued and re-read the entire series. a much shorter read than tolkien (the whole 8-9 books is less than the ring trilogy). this second time around, i was amazed at how christian the series is, and how i had forgotten the crazy plot twist at the very end! if you don't remember the series, and have time to spare, i recommend picking it up if only for a light, youthful read.

while i'm on the subject of books, i'll just share what i'm reading now - straight man. jordan recommended this book to me after i remarked that i wasn't impressed by richard russo's empire falls, which won the pulitzer prize (and that i picked up for $1 at the big sf book sale). he assured me that straight man is a much more entertaining read. luckily for me, he was right. i hopped on the wrong train after work today, and by the time i realized i was deep into queens, i didn't mind because i was enjoying the book so much. i think i may have even laughed out loud in the train...

austin powers

today i popped my celebrity sighting cherry! ken, devy and i were talking on the corner of 6th ave and bedford/houston when i see this guy crossing the street towards us on houston. i look closely as he passes by, and i quitely say to ken and devy, "that was just mike myers," to which ken confirms my sighting by shouting "hey mike!" and having him turn around with a tired/confused expression.

not bad for my first sighting, and it was cool how it looked like he was just walking home, looking like everyone else with a hat (beanie as we say in ca), headphones and in everyday dress. now i wonder who i'll spot next...

still connected!

wow... i'm trying not to get too excited, but my internet connection has been working for the past few days straight!

yummy food

hope everyone had a great weekend. i had a good one, thanks in no small part to a few great restaurants. first, i kicked off my weekend at my temp agency's holiday party. if anyone is looking for legal work here, update legal is a great agency. they came highly recommended and did not disappoint. after a brief stop for free drinks and hor dourves, i rushed back home, changed and made it back out to meet up with thomas, who i met at eric tam's wedding in sf. i soon learned that this was the one big asian party of the night, and ran into a bunch of other people - rachel and friends, julie (a lambda lil sis from ca), tammy, and mike owh and his buddy chris, accompanied by penny, who i knew back in our early days of greek life. anyways, it was apretty fun, albeit uneventful night.

saturday i met up with my cousin ken and his girlfriend renee (hope i'm spelling that right) for lunch. i decided on ino, which gerald raves about, and it was delicious. the paninos did not look filling, but they were quite substantial and affordable. the truffled egg toast was possibly the best egg dish i've ever had. i definitely will be back, especially as it's only a few blocks away. they also score points in my book for having a place on the wall for you to hang your jacket on. i hate just draping it on my chair and having parts of my jacket gtting dirty on the ground.

for dessert, i took them to rice to riches in soho. it was also my first time, and i must say that i wasn't too impressed. maybe i'm just not a big fan of rice pudding (although i did get an excellent serving from an old lady selling desserts in cancun - one peso for a styrofoam cupful). the one bonus s that you get a little spoon and reusable bowl with your order.

then for dinner devy and i went to kati roll in the east village. anoter rec from gerald, and i love this place too. it's basically an indian wra sandwich, with a naan-type bread wrapped around either chicken, beef, cottage cheese or spicy potato (add egg if desired). i've had the chicken and potato, but we tried the chicken with egg, and it was by far the best. i can't wait for my next kati roll.

devy and i kicked off this morning with a loaf of seminola raisin fennel bread from amy's bread (once again, gerald's rec). we munched on it (as i am doing now with he remains of the loaf), until we decided on brunch at shopin's. i'd always seen this place packed, and wanted to give it a shot. the service and ambiance were interesting, but the food was unquestionably excellent. check out the menu on their website to see how much crazy stuff they have. i ordered the cain and abel (pastrami, corned beef and chease omelette with rye bread), devy got the blister on my sister (some egg, tortilla concotion, with chicken, avocado, rice and cheese), and we split an order of cubed hass potatoes. i will also certainly be back, but without my cellphone, and in a part of less that four (they have very strict rules).

finally for dinner today, devy finished off her leftovers (huge portions at shopsin's), and i cooked pasta with italian sausage. nothing fancy worth taking pictures of, but still tasty.

now i just need to exercise/diet all next week to make up for the feast i enjoyed this weekend...

outsourcing: what's next?

just finished reading an article in the times about virtual sweatshops in china. that's just crazy. what happened to good old fashioned hard work, blood, sweat and guts? how will you know how to defeat that beholder or lich if you've never even battled kobolds or goblins? personally, i consider the two weeks my ultima online character spent chopping wood, carving bows, slowly increasing his strength and dexterity, as valuable "character" building (horrible pun intended). if i still played mmpgs i wouldn't be using one of these characters born with a silver spoon (in this case, silver dagger +3 of protection)...

web 2.0

during downtime at work, i like to search the web for articles related to litigation support in order to learn more about my field (which is supposed to experiencing quite the technological revolution). while browsing a few blogs, i came across an interesting pot about web 2.0. before I go further, here are links to the original sources:

LAWTECH GURU BLOG
What Is Web 2.0 article by Tim O'Reilly

the interesting table which caught my eye was:

Web 1.0 --> Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation --> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management systems --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication

anyways, interesting article and blog. just heard back from the attorney, gotta get back to work!

harry potter

anyone remember when it came out? before watching it with gerald, susana and danielle, we enjoyed a nice korean lunch, from which i brought home some kalbi tang (short-rib soup) leftovers. they still tasted good this past weekend (or was it last week?), and i was hoping to have them as a late night snack yesterday. here what it looked like:



not too appetizing, but it still smelled ok. maybe it would look better in a bowl?



not really.

i called gerald to see if he thought it was still edible, and he sounded horrified that i even still had it in the fridge. not willing to risk experiencing my own "goblet of fire," i remembered that i had some leftover homemade bread and an empenada that mrs. nijjar gave me. it ended up being very tasty with the green sauce from sophie's cuban cuisine (sorry no website, but i keep a stash of their green sauce in my fridge).

heavy snow

wow, woke up this morning and the snow was really coming down. however, i was less excited than i would have thought, probably due to watching coverage of the plane that slid off the runway in chicago last night. now i know what a "severe storm alert" means...

I just learned

that i can post to my blog simply by sending an email! this way i can
look like i am working productively, while actually informing the world
(all five of my readers), of my current thoughts!

however, i'll probably keep this as a minimum, as one thing i've learned
working in litigation in a law firm is that companies really do track
(or at least have the ability to track) every single email that you ever
send, as well as every single file attachment, aim conversation, etc.
slackers beware!

keyboard shortcuts

am i the only who has issues using keyboard shortcuts as a result of switching between pc and mac machines? why can't apple just place the command (apple) key where the control key is on pc keyboards?

i know my coworkers think i have a problem cutting, pasting, and using other shortcuts...

strand vs. sf bookstores

as i wait for the car service company to call me back at work, i thouht i should take this time to add another entry to my blog. i love to read, and there's nothing i enjoy more than picking up a used book at a discounted price. i was well acquanted with all of the many used book stores in sf, and hoped to find more of the same here in nyc. the strand bookstore came highly recommended, but it's been a disappointment my first few trips there. my thoughts:

the strand (one huge store) vs. sf bookstores (many little stores)

-- location --
the strand is conveniently located nearby in the east village, only a short walk away, whereas the bookstores in sf were spread all throughout the city.
winner: strand

-- selection --
although the strand has "18 miles of books", many are just the same books in massive quantities. in addition, i've found their used book selection to be especially weak when compared to the variety in sf. if one store doesn't have it, another will.
winner: sf bookstores

-- service --
i get a little of the superstore feeling at the strand, and i really prefer a small store feel when i buy my used books (otherwise i'd just buy books off amazon). it's nice when you can have a conversation with the people at the bookstore and get their opinions/recommendations and not feel rushed. the employees in sf also just seem to know the store/books better.
winner: sf bookstores

-- price --
like i said earlier, it's been tough finding the used books i want at the strand. they have numerous discount books, but it's like at borders where you really don't want most of what's on sale. i want to be able to buy recent, popular books now for a discounted price. in sf you may have to do some searching, but usually you'll find what you are looking for.
winner: sf bookstores

as you can see, sf bookstores win easily. maybe it'll just take some time for me to find the small independent used bookstores out here...

misc

i've decided to spend part of my lunch break at work entering notes from my handy little notebook into my blog. many of these are thoughts that would have been directly entered online, if not for my erratic internet connectivity.

last night i had another splendid meal with tommy, sanjeet, and mr. and mrs. griffiths. unfortunately sanjeet's mom decided she had had enough of the cold weather after a day of sightseeing so she decided to stay in and order room service. this time sanjeet treated us to an excellent seafood dinner at the manhattan ocean club. afterwards we went back to the hotel to hang out with sanjeet's mom and enjoy the cranberry apple pie (from kitchenette)devy gave them on sunday. the pie was delicious, but the hotel charged us $14 for 6 plates and silverware!

prior to dinner also picked up my gift for the secret santa gift exchange my high school friends have had for the past 6-7 years. hope my secret santee (?) enjoys it!

tommy and sanjeet passed on a request from my secret santa to see what i need, but i prefer to be surprised. however, in an attempt to be helpful, here are a few lists:

needlist (stuff i will be buying soon):
- placemats
- vacuum cleaner
- reading lamp
- external hard drive

wantlist (stuff i don't really need, but want):
- digital camera (a smaller one i can actually carry around without my man-purse)
- hot water boiler (tea kettle)
- athletic shoes (for running/working out)
- boots (for the rain.snow)
- printer

wishlist (stuff that i really want):
- peace, joy and happiness for all!

still have more to add but gotta get back to work...

welcome fantasy bballers!

per aki's request i have changed the title of our fantasy league to instruct all of you you read my blog. i must say that have been disappointed in the performance of "ballers of the world v.pasadena league," but v.sunnyvale and v.lambda leagues have been off to fairly great starts. as long as i finish in the money for one of my leagues i'll be happy.

why does my isp tease me like this? i had access for about 30 minutes this morning, then after i shut down my computer and pack up everything, it starts up again! aargh (as my sf friends have known me to say, usuallly as i am destroying some feeble piece of furniture)! or shaking a fist (ajuah-style)!

firefox - i decided to create this post using firefox, as there is added blogger usability that safari doesn't support. however, as i do need to leave for work now, i won't be able to add links, pics, etc. until next time...

before i forget

our gas meter is inside of our shower. is it rude to ask the meter guy to take off his shoes befoore entering our home, bathroom and shower to read the meter?

DSCN1877.JPG

DSCN1877.JPG
Originally uploaded by MikeUCB.

nm. i figured it out. i took this yesterday on the way to brunch with tommy and sanjeet. i can't wait to walk through central park!

how the hell did i do the picture post?

dammit.

did i mention

how much i love having internet at home? i love it!!!

elaborations

my table is here! chih (my roommate) assembled it when it came in, so i got a nice surprise after coming home late from work. i'm actually sitting at my new table now as i type this entry.

anyways, just wanted to elaborate on the radio city show. i really didn't have any prior opinions about it, knowing only the kick step that the rockettes do from childish imitations in elementary school, but it actually pretty neat. i'm not a big show person, but there was a toy soldiers bit that i thought was really neat.

work was pretty standard up until 8pm. i was in the midst of finishing a project earlier than expected, so rather than leave at 8, i thought i would try to pick up some additional training. unfortunately it became a complicated project that lasted until after 10:30pm. i do consider myself fortunate that everyone i work with is very nice and although the work environment is hectic, it's not the crazy stressed out law environment i imagined.

another nice surprise tonight is that my internet is actually working from home.

tomorrow i'm hoping to leave work early so i can enjoy dinner and the evening with tommy, sanjeet and family. it's awesome having good friends visit, although it does make me realize how much i miss everyone else- family, friends, co-workers, and students.

i really should send a letter to all of my old kids one of these days. i hope they don't feel like i left them hanging...

currently listening to plans by death cab for cutie. i didn't like their last album that much, but i love this one. my sister jennifer also recommended jack johnson and the gorillaz, so i'll be uploading those to my mp3 player soon.

for those of you with the new ipod (no, not me), tommy showed me that you can rip your dvd movies and load them onto your ipod. neat! the software is called handbrake (don't have the link handy, but you can just google it).

ok, off to shower and get ready for bed!

sorry again...

but this time i won't be apologizing for a lack of recent posts (although there may be one), but rather for posting some horrible blogs. gerald, as likely the sole reader of my blog, commented that i've been repeating many of the same events/thoughts in my postings. upon a cursory review, i also discovered that my grammar is pretty bad too.

luckily, there probably weren't many people reading this, but even so i promise to try harder to improve my postings. what i may have to do is actually read my posts before i publish them (which i probably still won't do because i don't like to).

thoughts (hopefully new):

1. i really miss playing basketball. i wonder how my team is doing without me and my 0.8 pts and 7 rebs/game. i'm sure they are doing well but i need to find some pick up games around here soon.
2. i'm afraid of gaining a ton of weight now that i'm working again. these computer jobs always seem to result in me sitting in front of a screen while constantly eating. hopefully i can keep my weight close to/under 200lbs. especially since the chairs i got state a 200 lb. max.

events (i know these are new):
1. first snowfall! i just wish i had time to walk through central park, but...
2. my friends tommy and sanjeet are in town from los angeles (really bradbury near monrovia)and i met them for brunch at their hotel. it was really nice to see them. they are here with some family (tommy's parents and sanjeet's mom), unfortunately mrs. griffiths (tommy' mom) wasn't feeling well so her and mr. griffith were stuck in the hotel all day.
3. then we did a lot of shopping on fifth avenue - sanjeet's mom was soerly equipped for the cold and bought a new scarf, hat, gloves and earmuffs.
4. after changing into nicer clothes at home, i met up with them at del friscos, a nice steakhouse by radio city music hall. unfortunately, mrs. g was still unwell so devy and i took their seats for the radio city music hall christmas show, which was actually quite a neat production.
5. finally i stopped by gerald and susana's place on the way home to pick up my computer and went home.

thoughts 2:
1. i can't wait to watch neon genesis evangelion. this series dominated at least one year of my college life. what sucks is that my dvd player cuts off the subtitles so i can't watch it on my tv at home.
2. i really hope i don't gain more weight.

thanks for reading! maybe someday i'lll have some fancy stuff like pictures and hyperlinks...